The Dodgers’ Juan Uribe watches the ball head for the fence on his bottom of the 8th 2 run homer against the Atlanta Braves during game 4 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium Monday, October 7, 2013. The Dodgers beat the Braves 4-3.
HANS GUTKNECHT — LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS

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Juan Uribe tried laying down a pair of bunts in the eighth inning Monday. They worked about as well as anything he tried during his first two years in a Dodgers uniform — that is, both landed in foul territory. It was enough to make a man boo.

But Uribe has made a habit all year of turning boos into cheers. He did it again when the Dodgers needed him the most in Game 4 of the National League Division Series, taking a pair of pitches from Atlanta Braves pitcher David Carpenter outside the strike zone before launching a two-run home run over the left-field fence.

It proved to be the game-winning hit in a 4-3 win that put the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

“Good moment,” he said. “Good moment for me. Good moment for doing my job. This is not only me. It’s all 25 guys doing a good job, like (Carl) Crawford.”

Uribe was, at once, the King of Understatement and the King of the World.

He is a 34-year-old third baseman who was reduced, by his own ability, to a backup for most of 2012. Uribe started only 42 games a year ago, came off the bench in another 24, but mostly watched from the sideline.

He is also a two-time World Series champion who hit a pair of home runs as the San Francisco Giants marched to the 2010 title.

“He’s probably the most-liked teammate we have,” said Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers’ surprise starter for Game 4. “He’s the same guy no matter what. You couldn’t tell if he’s 1 for 30 or 30 for 30.”

Kershaw pitched six innings on three days’ rest for the first time in his career. But he left with the score tied 2-2, and watched the Braves take a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning against reliever Ronald Belisario.

After Brian Wilson (1-0) pitched a scoreless top of the eighth, Yasiel Puig led off the bottom of the eighth with a double to right field, setting the stage for Uribe’s heroics.

Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth inning to record the save.

“It took me a second to realize we clinched,” Jansen said. “When A.J. (Ellis, the Dodgers’ catcher) dropped his glove, I went.”

The announced sellout crowd of 54,438 at Dodger Stadium went, too — nuts, crazy, whatever the term is after four years of frustration.

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The Dodgers reached the NL Championship Series for the first time since 2009 and will play the winner of Game 5 Wednesday between the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals.

A Pirates win gives the Dodgers home-field advantage in the series. A Cardinals win means the Dodgers must travel to St. Louis for Game 1 on Friday.

Kershaw did not allow an earned run in six innings, surrendering three hits, walking none and striking out six. His 91 pitches were well short of the 124 he threw in Game 1 last Thursday, but “he could’ve kept going,” said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly.

It was Mattingly who said Sunday that Ricky Nolasco would start the game, then reversed his decision late in the day.

“This is the postseason,” said Kershaw, who did not object to the starting assignment. “I don’t want to take it for granted. I might never get to do this again.”

The fragility of October baseball was on full display Monday.

The Dodgers were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position before Uribe stepped to the plate with the game in his hands, as a series of errors threatened to postpone the Dodgers’ champagne-and-streamer celebration.

First baseman Adrian Gonzalez flubbed a routine ground ball to begin the game. In the fourth inning, Gonzalez misfired on a throw to second base for his second error of the game. Later in the inning, sure-handed second baseman Mark Ellis threw wide of first base, sending Gonzalez to his belly and thwarting a potential double-play groundout that would have bailed Kershaw out of a two-run inning. Both runs were unearned.

By the seventh, a ground ball hit to Gonzalez was enough to evoke visions of Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series until the ball landed safely in his glove, Freddie Freeman was called out and Dodger Stadium collectively exhaled.

Belisario was the first pitcher out of the bullpen in the seventh inning. With one out, Elliot Johnson tripled into the right-field corner. Jose Constanza pinch hit for Braves starter Freddy Garcia and promptly delivered an RBI single, giving the Braves a 3-2 lead.

J.P. Howell relieved Belisario and got the final two outs of the eighth inning, preserving the score.

Garcia was Kershaw’s equal for six innings. He allowed eight hits, walked two and struck out six, a shutout spoiled only by Crawford’s solo home runs in the first and third innings.

With two strikes against him in the first, Crawford capitalized on a hanging splitter by Garcia, powering the ball an estimated 404 feet into the right-field bleachers.

In the third, the Dodgers still led 1-0 when Crawford turned on a 2-2 sinker over the inside corner, curling it inside the right-field foul pole for his second home run of the game.

Crawford did not hit a home run between May 7 and Sept. 26 of this season, finishing the regular season with six. He has half as many in his last two games.